Highlight Tops the Social/Mobile Pack

Every year, one new tech startup seems to capture the imagination of the tech-savvy crowds that flock to Austin for South By Southwest, and 2012 was no exception. This year, the belle-of-the-ball was Highlight, a six-week-old location-based social networking application founded by 32-year-old Stanford graduate Paul Davison. Highlight combines social networking with geo-location by notifying users of like-minded people in their immediate area. “Most people walk around like ants hoping that by randomness they’ll intersect paths with the person of their dreams,” Davison told TIME. “Sometimes it happens, but many times you’ll never meet.” Highlight aims to fix that, Davison said, by giving people a “sixth sense” about the world around them.